(a) It is the purpose of this chapter to secure the safety and health of low income Vermont households by providing needy Vermonters with assistance for the purchase of essential home heating fuel. To further this purpose, application acceptance, processing, and eligibility determination should as much as is practical be coordinated with other economic benefit programs administered by the Agency of Human Services.

(b) This chapter establishes a Home Heating Fuel Assistance Program in the Agency of Human Services with both a seasonal fuel assistance component and a crisis component. (Added 1995, No. 158 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. May 10, 1996; amended 2009, No. 88 (Adj. Sess.), § 1, eff. April 29, 2010.)